Financial regulators have issued a caution against Korea Exchange Bank for unauthorized lending practices and are poised to levy a fine on the lender.The Financial Supervisory Service said Wednesday that it has cautioned the bank for breaching banking laws.The Financial Services Commission is also considering imposing fines of an unspecified value on the bank. It will be holding a panel discussion

Won hits fresh 3-year high on U.S. debt crisis, recording 1,050 against dollarThe won hit a near 3-year high Wednesday, one of a basket of currencies strengthening against the U.S. dollar on jitters Washington may fail to agree on raising its debt ceiling.Investors unloaded dollars on fears of a possible U.S. debt default and sent the won to 1,049.10 by mid-day, its strongest level since September

Major South Korean companies are set to recruit more employees in the second half of the year than a year earlier as the economy is on a solid growth path, a poll said Wednesday.According to the joint survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Incruit, a local online job placement portal, 338 companies plan to hire a combined 17,361 employees in the July-December period, up 1.7 perce

South Korea’s top regulator said Wednesday that the watchdog plans to conduct stricter stress tests on local banks’ foreign currency liquidity conditions in a bid to shield the country from a potential financial crisis.Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se said the financial watchdog plans to make stress tests based on the second-quarter FX liquidity data by taking into account various

 

 

By Cho Ji-hyunControversy is escalating over whether it was appropriate for a member of a media watchdog to post photos that some argue are “sexually offensive” on his personal blog.Last Wednesday, Park Kyung-sin, one of the nine commissioners at the Korea Communications Standards Commission, posted screen-grabs of photos of multiple male genitals published on other blogs on his own site, asking v

LG Electronics Inc., the world's third-largest mobile phone makers, said Wednesday that its second-quarter operating profit rose 25 percent from one year earlier, as its newly released smartphones helped the company narrow losses in the mobile business. Operating profit reached 158.2 billion won (US$150.9 million) in the April-June period, compared with an operating profit of126.2 billion won a ye

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The wealth gaps between whites and minorities in the United States have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tabulating them a quarter-century ago. The recession and uneven recovery have erased decades of minority gains, leaving whites on average with 20 times the net worth of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics, according to an analysis of new Census da

The top U.S. trade official predicted confidently Tuesday that Congress will pass free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia and Panama in September.In a speech at a Bretton Woods Committee meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said a "framework" for a deal on the controversial Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is already in place.President Barack Obama is pushing to renew the w

The South Korean economy grew at the slowest pace in six months in the second quarter as export gains sharply eased amid global economic uncertainty, the central bank said Wednesday.Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 0.8 percent in the April-June period, down from a 1.3 percent on-quarter expansion tallied in the first quarter, according to an advance estimate of the Bank of Korea (BOK). The count

Tariff raise eases cost burden for KEPCO, complicates inflation fightThe government announced Tuesday it will raise electricity tariffs by an average 4.9 percent starting August to reflect rising energy costs even as inflation remains high.The Economy Ministry said electricity bills will rise 6.1 percent for industrial use but said the raise for home use will only be 2 percent. Finance Minister Ba